The present invention relates to a material handling system and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method of unloading pallets in a material handling system.
Pallets are platforms constructed of wood members that are configured for handling by a forklift and are used for transporting products, such as cartons, that can be stacked on the pallet. Pallets are particularly suitable for transporting products that are difficult to individually handle. Most products are delivered to warehouses on pallets, where the products must be unloaded from the pallets so that the products can be processed at the warehouse by a material handling system. Once unloaded, the pallets are collected and then returned for reuse.
While pallets offer many advantages, pallets are heavy and hard to handle. In addition, tolerances in the wood materials and construction result in variations in their shapes and dimensions. While these variations typically do not impact their handling by forklifts, other handling devices, such as conveyors and sorting devices, are more sensitive to these variations. In addition, over time, pallets tend to develop irregularities in their shape due to repairs or loose members. As a result, automating the handling of pallets creates many challenges.
One common method of unloading a pallet includes the use of a tilt table. The tilt table tilts the loaded pallet so that the containers or products supported on the pallets slide or roll onto a take-away conveyor. However, this unloading method is not suitable for all products. Furthermore, as noted above, pallets tend to vary in their dimensions and shapes, which is hard to accommodate in these automated depalletizers. As a result, pallets tend to jam in the depalletizer, thus, stopping the throughput of the material handling system.
Consequently, there is a need for an improved depalletizer assembly, which can accommodate the variations and pallet dimensions and shapes while maximizing the throughput of the material handling system incorporating the depalletizer assembly of the present invention.